Want to learn more about your own teaching? Do a demo video in the privacy of your own home.

If you want to improve your teaching skills, your behavioral management skills or just sharpen up your interview skills, do a demo video in the privacy of your own home. Creating a video just for ourselves, helps us to be better at teaching a skill or thinking about how to manage a behavior. It also helps us to identify habit that we do not know that we have such as facial expressions that emit the wrong message, off-putting body language or a tendency to not smile when we teach. The camera can pick up on nervousness, a voice tone that is too soft or not confident or a voice that is booming or overbearing. This is such a great tool to learn how to be better teachers and to even help compete when trying to land a teaching job.

To begin: Think out a small demo lesson with simple, sequential steps to prep for the video. Mentally rehearse and then set up the camera so that the viewer can see your best, hear you audibly and focus on the skill that you are teaching.  Film yourself or better yet, have a trusted family member or friend help you out with the filming (being safe of course). Next, watch the video back and being as objective as possible, go over the positives in the video and as objectively as possible, think out what could have been improved. Mentally take notes for the next time, REPEAT! Practice makes perfect.